


subtle grace of gravity

by cecilantro



Series: 100 Days Of Ficlets [37]
Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-04
Updated: 2018-04-04
Packaged: 2019-04-18 12:18:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,413
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14213010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cecilantro/pseuds/cecilantro
Summary: “You could have died in there.” He says, slow, low, could be angry or hysterical and they can’t quite tell. “You could have died, and I wouldn’t even have been there to say goodbye.”





	subtle grace of gravity

**Author's Note:**

> [Title from You Are The Moon by The Hush Sound](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g0qHWM8ZKdU), which is what I listened to for a lot of my fics cause its a good fucking song

Fjord understands very little but the electrical static that he feels buzzing down his arm, followed quickly by the icy dripping sensation that always accompanies the summoning of his falchion, there’s a maelstrom in Caleb’s eyes, Fjord can’t afford to think about that in the here and now. They’re different people in the field versus their downtime, the point hovers dangerously close to the soft of Caleb’s neck, a simple inch and Caleb’s body would be left on the floor, bleeding out, he knows his threats are empty but he puts as much force into them as possible.  
There’s betrayal and disgust, but Caleb knows that _this_ Fjord isn’t _his_ Fjord, this Fjord is calculating and completely separate, he hasn’t made a joke since they entered the house, there’s no warmth in the amber of his eyes.  
He lets go of the scroll with a clatter and walks, deliberately slipping only just to the side of the falchion, so close it nicks just under the curve of his jaw and he gulps when he’s past Fjord. The falchion stays, Fjord fights to keep himself solid, he wants so badly to turn and cuddle and reassure, he can’t.  
Caleb ruffles Nott’s hair as he passes and steps up next to Ulog.  
“ _Scheiße_ .” Fjord hears him hiss, through gritted teeth, and that’s a word that he knows, turns, and repeats it again in Common when he manages to get a look over Caleb’s shoulder down the stairs.  
Caleb feels a hand gentle on his back and steps forward, away, as Ulog does the same, he’s shocked at the sudden piece of paper shoved into the crook of his arm. It’s lucky, he thinks, as he’s blown back by fire, that he was more invested in the parchment than the fight, the backs of his hand bandages are charred, only the edges of the parchment are, it could have been destroyed if he hadn’t been reading it.  
Then he passes out on the floor, previously cold, now warmed by the giant fireball. His fingers crumple the edge of the paper as he grasps, and when he wakes up again, it’s in Fjord’s arms after Jester hands him over, there’s the burn of healing potion in his throat. Fjord looks down at him, not with the cold, calculating eyes of the criminal they have all been today, but the sad, concerned eyes of someone that loves him.  
They’re running, Caleb is on his feet and pounding away before he properly processes any of it, he catches Fjord’s hand and pulls, just a little speedier.  
The door ahead of them is thrown open, there’s a stutter in each of their footsteps as light pours in, and then there’s Beau, shouting to them, there’s a horrific screeching from outside, Caleb can’t hear but he knows she’s panicked by her face, the way she’s gesturing, expressions he’s only seen in the heat of a deadly battle, the manticore, the time she caught an arrow inches from his throat. He feels for her a rush of affection, pulls Fjord past and reaches, too, for her, they’re the last out of the door and he catches her wrist and she comes skittering alongside them.  
“Nott?” Caleb finds his voice, suddenly, he doesn’t see her in the party fleeing, Fjord’s shock and horror mirrors his own.  
She comes careening around the corner as Molly does, there’s the relief of seeing Nott, followed quickly by the solid force of Molly as he crashes into Fjord and Caleb as one, an arm around each and crushing,  
“ _I love you, I’m so glad you’re okay._ ” They hear the whispered rush from somewhere vaguely near Fjord’s shoulder, and he’s backing off and turning, ever flitting, like a moth, their Mollymauk moves away. They follow, flame and moth in roles reversed, Caleb pulls Fjord and they’re moving again, through the streets, only slowing to blend into the sudden crowd.

 

Caleb sits on Fjord and Molly’s bed, he has no choice but to let the other two flicker around him as they investigate the wounds of the day, the sword had been gnarled and cruel-looking, as through the dark itself was extending itself to pierce Caleb’s body.  
Dragged him home, one on either side, neither conscious or unconscious, schrodinger’s wizard.  
He’d recovered, somewhat, now. Molly had settled the periapt around his neck the first moment they’d had to breathe, and Fjord, now, was working on suturing the worst of the wounds.  
“Caleb, dear, you okay?” Molly asks, he kneels on the bed in front of Caleb, there’s a smudge of blood up his hand from where he’d clamped it over a wound in his back to try and stop it bleeding.  
Caleb takes that hand and strokes, gently, over the smudge,  
“ _Ja_ , I am-” a wince as Fjord makes a new stitch, “I am… not dead.”  
“But not okay?”  
“No. No, I don’t think so.”  
“We have a lot t’ talk abou’ from today.” Fjord agrees from somewhere behind him, pulls and tightens a stitch.  
“I don’t think it’s a lot.” Molly tilts his head, Caleb shakes his,  
“There were some things that happened whilst you were outside, Mollymauk. Fjord pulled his falchion to me.”  
“I thought,” Fjord’s voice has a twinge of guilt and annoyance, “We were goin’ to make a clean break from it. If we’d had time, I, I would’a gotten y’ that case before we left, but you were _unconscious_ and I _panicked_ -”  
“Hold on.” Molly interrupts, “You were _unconscious_ , Caleb?”  
“Somewhere between life and death, _ja_ .” Caleb grimaces, there’s cold damp cloth running over the newly stitched wound. Molly looks between them,  
“You could have died in there.” He says, slow, low, could be angry or hysterical and they can’t quite tell. “You could have died, and I wouldn’t even have been there to say goodbye.”  
“But I did not die, and Fjord saved me.” Caleb points out helpfully, and Molly’s eyes burn, there’s a spring of tears, and Caleb quickly pats at Fjord’s hands as they run across his stitches again.  
Fjord pulls away, and Caleb, immediately, shifts to bundle Molly into a hug, reassuring, Fjord sets the medical supplies he’s borrowed from Jester down, the side of the bed, and joins Molly’s other side.  
“You, you know, Mollymauk, I would never leave you like that. I will always have you, or Fjord, or both, to keep me alive, for another day.”  
Molly chokes a sob before it can really leave his throat, he nestles his forehead against the crook of Caleb’s head and reaches for Fjord with one hand, Fjord slips into the gaps he leaves perfectly. Caleb loops an arm around Fjord’s waist, too, and they sit in a huddle breathe slow until Molly’s matches Fjord and Caleb’s.  
“I don’t want to worry about today any more.” Molly croaks against Caleb’s chest, “I want you to kiss me, tell me you love me, I want to sleep.”  
“There’s a feelin’ we can all get behind.” There’s a ghost of a joke behind Fjord’s voice, the three untangle just enough for Caleb to take Molly’s chin and kiss him gently, Fjord’s hand finds Molly’s waist and rubs his thumb carefully over the hard line of Molly’s hip bone.  
“Nott knows not to expect me back tonight.” Caleb sighs as Molly draws away to find a shirt for Caleb to wear, as opposed to the tattered one he’d come home with. Fjord’s eyes flicker,  
“Does she know?”  
“Probably.” Caleb shrugs, “Maybe not. I am not truly sure how intelligent Nott really is, I have not told her, but if she has figured it out I do not think she will say anything.”  
“Besides, if Jester and Beau know, they’ll just pretend to not notice. The same way we pretend not to notice when they disappear around a corner to kiss.”  
“What?” Caleb and Fjord speak in unison, and Molly’s eyes widen,  
“Oh, you genuinely _hadn’t_ noticed? They’re hardly subtle.”  
He throws a shirt to Caleb,  
“Settle in, my loves, it’s time to sleep. I’m fucking _exhausted_ .”  
They shuffle around and allow Molly to flump face-first onto the bed, then cuddle up to make a nice Caleb sandwich. He feels Fjord kiss his eyelids, gently, and gives him an affectionate hum.  
“Mmm, _ich liebe dich_ .” into Fjord’s chest as he snuggled forward, and Molly plants a kiss at the back of his neck,  
“Love you too.” he says, sleepily, “But go to fucking sleep.”


End file.
